Process for treating oil shale



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10 J1 Gusfilv 2 /077? Patented May 3, 1927.

UNITED STATES GUSTAV EGLOFF, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,

ASSIGNOR TO UNIVERSAL OIL PRODUCTS COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION QF SOUTH DAKOTA.

PROCESS FOR TREATING OIL SHALI'I.

Application filed January 10, 1821, Serial No. 436,043. Renewed February 4. 1927.

This invention relates to improvements in process for treating oil shale and relates more particularly to the treatment of Oll shale for the production of light oils, am-

monia, pyridine, quinolin bases, phenolic bodies, and unsaturated hydrocarbons of the character more complex than the ethylene series.

I have found that by utilizing the ()I'dlnary retort of the single cylinder type that a part of the oil distilled from the shale is highly superheated and produces an inordinate quantity of uncondensable gas, light and heavy oils and leaves considerable or- 1 ganic matter still in the oil shale, unless a tremendously high temperature is used about the retort. It is well known to those skilled in this art-that oil shale is a very poor conductor of heat and that the gaseous voids between oil shale lumps further acts as a cor conductor-of heat.

I have ound by my process that I reduce a minimum amount of uncondensa le gas and a relatively small amount of heavy hy- 85 drocarbon oil comparative to any other process of which I am aware.

The sin le figure in the drawing 1s a view, partl y in side elevation and partly in vertical cross section, of my improved apparatus.

Referring in detail to the drawings, 1 designates a dutch oven attached to a furnace 2 having stack 3-and burner 4. represents a vertical still having a plurality of tubes set therein attached to drums 6 and 8 is a hopper in which the oil shale is dropped at the lower part of which is a control valve 9. 10 is a control valve for the ejection of the spent oil shale havin pipe connection 11 attached thereto. At the top of vertical still 5 is a vapor line 12 controlled by valve 13, pipe 12 being connected with water condenser coil 14 set in condenser box 15 with pipe connection 16 and control valve connecting with receiyer 18, having gauge glass 19 for determining the liquid level. 20 designates a drawofi pipe from the bottom of receiver 18 with control valve 21 attached thereto. 22 is an uncondensable gas pipe having control valve 23 connected therewith. 24 is a erforated steam pipe set in the bottom of. t e vertical still 5 having control valve 25 connected with pipe 26 to the source of the steam.

This steam supply may be preheated and under ressure of 250 pounds.

To t e uncondensable gas pipe 22 is connected a further pipe connection 27 connected with a vacuum pump 28 when it is desired to thermally treat the oil shale under vacuum distillation. The mode of operation of this process and apparatus is to charge the still with small particles of the-oil shale so that they may be well compacted in the vertical heating tubes. Valve 9 is then closed and the fire started. When the distillation in this process is to take place at atmospheric pressure, valves 13, 17 and 23 are left open. I have found that with Colorado oil shale having an oil content of 50 gallons to the ton, that the temperature around the heating tubes was never in excess of 1200 de rees F. The productions of distillation un er this furnace temperature were collected in receiver 18 and discharged to a rundown tank (not shown) and controlled by valve 21. Toward the end of the run, superheated steam was injected into the lower portion of the vertical still and the distillation finished in the presence of superheated steam. I have made runs with steam in the superheated condition being injected into the process continuously from the beginning of the run. However, I have found at times that an emulsion would form in the receiver.

When it is desirous of treating the oil shale under pressure, valve 13 was throttled,

until the desired pressure was obtained in the vertical still and I found pressures of 50 pounds upward to be satisfactory when treating oil shales having a content of oil in excess of 30 gallons to the ton. When the desired pressure on the still 5 was reached, valve 13 was opened so that an equal pressure could be maintained on the condenser coil and the receiver. However, at times it is desirable to maintain a differential pressure on the still, water condenser or upon the receiver, that is, 110 pounds, for example, on the vertical still, 75 pounds on the water condenser and 25 pounds on the receiver. The runs disclosed that an oil shale having 45 gallons to the ton of shale oil at atmospheric pressure distillation under thermalization, would yield 15% of a marketable gasoline and upon treating the same shale under pressure,

the marketable gasoline content would be increased to 33% of the oil. However, when the shale is thermalized under pressure, the furnace temperature is higher than when the same shale is treated at atmospheric pressure. In the illustrative run, the temperature of the furnace was 1450 degrees F.

Another method of operating this process is to vacuum distill'the oil shale, which preserves the oil content of the shale with a minimum amount of crackin There are certain shales which it is advisable to treat under vacuum, therefore, a vacuum distillation of oil shale is provided for in this prpcess and has its specified advantages.

claim as my invention:

1. A rocess of treating oil shale, comprising lntroducing a supply of comminuted shale to an enlarged drum, in allowing the shale to pass from the drum into a plurality of vertically disposed tubes, in providing a drum beneath said tubes, in passshale to an enlarged drum, in allowin the shale to pass from the drum into a p urality of vertically disposed tubes of restricted diameters, in providing a drum beneath said tubes, in passing superheated steam internally through said tubes in phvsical contact with the shale, in externally heating the tubes, in discharging the shale vapors for condensation and collection, and in maintaining a vacuum in said tubes during distillation of the shale.

GUSTAV EGLOFF.

rization of vol- 

